Hello! I hope you are all doing okay. I thought I'd update again but before I forget I'm planning on updating every two weeks or so from now on. This should work pretty well with my schedule and it means I won't be rushing to get things written.
On with the show.
Disclaimer: Still trying but alas I own nothing…yet
Chapter Twenty One
By Rosa241
McGonagall POV:
"Mr Weasley if you wouldn't mind staying for a few moments. There's something I'd like to talk to you about." The boy in question gives me an odd look before nodding.
"I'll wait for you outside." The quidditch captain said as he left the room.
He's still giving me the strange look as he approaches the desk.
"Is there a problem Professor?" I almost smile at the nervousness in his voice. Out of all my students he's one of only a few that I've never had to punish. He's a good student and finally he's becoming the young man I've seen from the beginning.
"I need to ask you a few questions regarding Mr Potter." His faces changes to complete confusion as he sits opposite me.
"Okay."
"Your mother approached the school yesterday with a few, well with some concerns about his home life." Realisation dawns in his eyes as he nods.
"My letter." I've read the letter he'd sent to his mother, his concerns were shared by myself. Leaving him with those muggles was never something I wanted.
"What exactly do you know about his home life?" Percy pauses before speaking.
"Um…I don't know that much really. Just the things that Ron's let slip." I urge him to continue. "He doesn't get on very well with his cousin, from what Ron's said it sounds like he bullies Harry."
Nodding my head I can't help but wincing in sympathy. What must it be like, living with someone who treats you badly?
"What about his Aunt and his Uncle? How much do you know about them?"
"Not a lot." He shifts awkwardly in his seat, I wonder what he's not telling me. "From what Ron says I doubt he's missing them."
"What exactly makes you say that?" Narrowing my eyes I can't help thinking.
I'd watched these muggles years ago and had an odd feeling about them back then. That family was totally and completely the opposite of our world. I knew from the start that they'd never understand him but they were the only family I had left. The law states that he must be placed with family and the Dursley's were family. If Sirius had been properly tried then they would have known he was innocent. He would have fought for Harry. Sirius would have loved and cared for the boy like only his parents could.
"There's nothing in particular I can say but I just get the feelings that there's no love lost. I mean-" He cuts himself off, evidentially wanting to say more but reluctant to.
"Go on." Again he shifts awkwardly in his seat.
"I feel like I'm breaking Ron's trust. He never used to talk to me about things but now he does. I don't want him to stop trusting me, I don't want him to back away now." Looking at the boy in front of me I can see the honesty in his words. His actions make me smile. I've known for a long time that he genuinely cares about his family, he's just never been able to show it. I can see that a gap has formed over the years but it appears as though it's being bridged now.
"Percy you must understand that we can help Harry, but only if we know the truth." He nods but still hesitates before answering.
"I know that he doesn't have a bedroom. I don't want to believe that it's true but apparently he sleeps in a cupboard under the stairs."
My eyes widen at his words. A cupboard!? Those…those…muggles! How could they treat him so badly!? He's an eleven year old boy. Oh if I ever get my hands on those people then I swear…
Harry POV:
I can't believe it. Ron's smile is catching as he hears my news.
"Hang say that again." He bounces over to my bed as I start again.
Flashback:
Walking into the room I can't quite understand what's going on. Professor Dumbledore stands in the centre of the room talking to two other people. I recognise one of them but I can't place where I know her from.
"Ah Harry dear. I hope we haven't woken you up too early but we wanted to do this before Arthur had go to work." It takes a moment before I realise who she is. She's the woman from the platform which makes her Ron's mum. The man beside her chuckles slightly as he indicates for me to sit down.
"I suspect you're wondering who we are. Well my names Arthur, this is Molly. We're Ron's mum and dad." I nod my head as they sit opposite me. "Now I understand that this might be a bit strange but we wanted to ask you something."
"You see dear Ron's told us a lot about you and we know how good friends the two of you have become. Now you see we were wondering what you were going to do for Christmas this year, we weren't sure whether you'd be returning home or staying here." I know it's rude but I can't help cutting him off.
"Staying here? People stay here over Christmas?" Mrs Weasley smiles at me before she speaks.
"Of course. The boys were going to this year, we were planning on visiting our older son Charlie but he decided to come home so the boys are coming back home for Christmas." People can stay in Hogwarts over Christmas. I don't have to go home. "Anyway we were wondering whether you would like to come to ours for Christmas."
My mind goes blank as the words enter my mind. They want me to come home with them? To spend Christmas with they're family? I want to say yes but it's like there's something stuck in my throat.
"Of course if you wanted to go home to your Aunt and Uncle then we'd understand." I can feel my face going white as she speaks.
"No!" I can't help wincing at how loud my words come out. No way am I going back to that house for Christmas. They probably wouldn't even let me in the house. "I mean…I'd really like that."
Both smile genuine real smiles as I say yes. My heart all but leaps into my throat as Mrs Weasley hugs me tight. Mr Weasley claps me on the shoulder but the smile on his face is just as wide and just as happy.
"Fantastic. Oh won't Ron be pleased." It doesn't take long before Dumbledore ushers me off to breakfast. As I wander down to the great hall I notice my heart feeling lighter than it has in days.
End Flashback:
Ron's still smiling as I repeat my tale again. I still can't believe it that I won't be on my own for Christmas. I haven't got to go back to that place, back to the cupboard for a few more months now. I don't have to see them again until the summer. In fact…now that I think about it I only have to see them for a few weeks a year. I can put up with them for a few weeks every year if it means I get to be here, if I get to live in this amazing place.
"This is going to be great." My mind reels as Ron starts listing off all the things we could get up to now that I'm going to his. I recall what Ron said before about his family and their house on the train. The more I think about it the more I smile.
"Wait! What are we going to do about Nicolas Flamel?" My heart goes cold at that. We were supposed to spend Christmas looking into the restricted section of the library and finding out who this guy was. How are we supposed to figure this whole thing out if we're not here at school.
"Maybe we could ask your mum or dad about it? They might know who he is?" Ron shakes his head violently.
"No way. That's the whole reason we haven't asked a teacher remember? They'll get suspicious of us and then Snape might find out about it. If Snape finds out then we'll never figure out what he's trying to do." Ron was right of course. The entire reason we were doing this ourselves was because we knew that no adult would believe us. Plus the more people that know about this the more risk there is of Snape finding out that we're onto him.
"We'll figure it out." Honestly right now what Snape's doing is firmly lodged at the back of my mind. Thoughts of Christmas with the Weasley's are running around my brain.
Oliver POV:
I couldn't help sighing as I paced the corridor again. What on earth was taking so long? It's not like Percy was in trouble, Percy never got into trouble. What could she be speaking to him about for so long?
A noise coming from the end of the corridor disrupts me from my boredom.
"What's the matter? Scared?" The voice sounds familiar but I can't quite place it. Whoever it is sniggers before another voice enters the conversation.
"Look j-j-just leave m-me al-alone." That voice I recognised straight away. Neville.
Before I can even think about this I find myself moving towards the noise. Rounding the corner I can't help the anger that builds inside me as I spy the scene. The Malfoy boy with two others whose names I can't remember surrounding a terrified Neville.
"Is there a problem here?" The look the Malfoy kid gives me is just about as disgusted as he could possibly be. Neville sends me an almost pleading look and I can feel anger building inside me.
"We were just mucking about, weren't we Neville?" The sheer look of terror on the poor boys face sends me reeling for a moment. Percy had said that he was bullied but I never thought that it would be this bad. Guilt hits me for a moment before I shake it off.
"Doesn't look that way to me. You alright Neville?" He nods shakily but I can tell he's anything but. Moving to stand between the three of them and the scared Gryffindor I can feel the tension all but leave Neville. "You see to me it looks like there's a bit of bullying going on here and I don't like bullying. Now I recommend that the three of you get the hell out of here before I do something I might regret." All three pale slightly before rushing off around the corner.
Turning round I can't help smiling sympathetically at the boy. He's nothing but a scared little boy, the way he's shaking he reminds me of Percy. Back before when Percy was just a first year he had terrible trouble fitting in. We both did. A muggle boy with no clue as to what happened in the wizarding world and a small overly smart young kid with a brain too big. We clicked eventually but Percy was always wary of everyone.
"Thanks." He manages to whisper out but his eyes never once leave the floor.
"Neville has this been going on for a while?" He looks around nervously before nodding his head.
"They left me alone at the start but now they won't." Sighing I kneel down so that I'm at his level.
"Well they will from now on. From now on I promise that they'll be leaving you alone, I'll make sure of it." He sends me a grateful smile but I can sense that there's some apprehension behind it. He doesn't believe that I'll help him. I'm not letting him go through this anymore.
"Everything okay?" The familiar voice behind me makes me smile.
"Yeah we're fine." Squeezing my shoulder Neville smiles before I get up and send a smile to my friend. "What was that all about?"
"Oh nothing serious. She just wanted to go over something on my homework." Frowning slightly I quickly recognise the code. I'll tell you later. His eyes flicker towards Neville for a few moments before he speaks again. "Right, let's head off to dinner. I'm sure we could all go for some food right about now."
Wandering down the corridor I place a hand on the shoulder of the small boy. I'm not going to let him go through this anymore.
And I think I'll leave it there. I thought it might be interesting to get some other points of view of the events going on. There's a couple of things I wanted to cover in my story that always bugged me when reading the books.
Firstly, it always seemed strange to me that Harry was in such a horrible situation at the Dursley's (let's face it this was child abuse) and yet no one did anything about it. I know Harry had to stay at the Dursley's because of the protection that lay in Petunia's blood but only Dumbledore knew that. What about all of the other people? Surely Molly and Arthur would want to do something about this seeing as they are such loving parents.
The second thing that always bothered me is that everyone knew that Malfoy bullied Neville but no one ever did anything about it. Surely someone would have done something about a young boy being bullied, even if Neville never said anything someone would have seen what was going on.
Now before anybody asks I know that with them not being at school then Harry won't discover the Mirror but don't worry I've thought about this whole thing. I've got a plan.
Hope you enjoyed this. Until next time, bye!